French Fridays: Gerard's Mustard Tart

Yet another winner for French Friday's. I am so excited because the first two things I made, I am really proud of!

So this week we made Gerard's Mustard Tart. I must say that I was sort of skeptical about this. I mean mustard in a tart with carrots and leeks...what??? I have never used leeks before and wasn't really sure about them. I mean I have had them in something that was prepared by someone else (a chef at a restaurant). But how will it make my tart taste?

So I went on a search of what these leek things are. And what I found out is that the leek is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to the Alliaceae family. The edible portions of the leek are the white onion base and light green stalk. The dark green portion is usually discarded since it has less flavor. As the leek grows, this part becomes woody and very chewy. One of the most popular uses for the whites and light green stalks is for adding flavor to stock. Leek has a mild onion-like taste, less bitter than scallion. The taste might be described as a mixture of mild onion and cucumber, with a fresh smell similar to scallion. In its raw state, the vegetable is crunchy and firm. (wikipedia)

So, armed with the knowledge that this would in fact be good, I sent hubby on a grocery run. On the list was three leeks. He called and said that they were kind of big, so I told him to just get 2. I still thought they would be similar to a green onion. Boy was I wrong...Here is one of my 2 leeks



So now I have another leek in the fridge for later use.

This recipe was easy for me to follow. I made the tart dough on Wednesday, partially baked it on Thursday and made the tart on Friday. So I never spent very long in the kitchen with it. It worked out great doing it that way because it was a long week at work. Hubby and I enjoyed this right out of the oven for lunch today!